The beauty of God's house

Joseph A. Komonchak March 7, 2013 - 10:09pm

"I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house and the place where your glory dwells (Ps 25:8). We love the beauty of Gods house and the place where his glory dwells if we ourselves are that house. What is the beauty of Gods house and the place where his glory dwells if not the temple of which the Apostle says, 'Gods temple is holy, which you are'(1 Cor 3:17)? In buildings made by hands, when they are elegantly and magnificently constructed, our bodily sight is struck; so when living stones, the hearts of believers, are held together by the bond of charity, this is the beauty of Gods house, the place where his glory dwells. Learn, then, what you should love so that you are able to love it. One who loves the beauty of Gods house loves the Church, not in walls and roofs built by a carpenter, not in gleaming marble and gold-paneled ceilings, but in faithful and holy people, people who love God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their mind and their neighbors as themselves." (Augustine, Sermon 15, 1; PL 38, 116)